Dr. Sam Jahani is an Iranian-American & His Wife Cheryl Ellsworth Jahani
MONTROSE — Offices of a Montrose doctor involved with Urgent Care facilities here and in Grand Junction were raided by federal agents yesterday.
Dr. Sam Jahani is already facing a lawsuit over an ex-employee's claims that he fired her last year for her intended whistleblower activities —claims that Jahani denied.
Wednesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration served warrants at Montrose Urgent Care, Grand Junction Urgent Care and Jahani's Delta office. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, agents were seeking medical records kept by Jahani, who specializes in internal medicine, and Dr. Eric Peper of Grand Junction.
"Medical records were seized or are being seized," U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Jeff Dorschner said Wednesday of the DEA's investigation. "There's virtually nothing I can say regarding this."
Dorschner said no arrests have been made Wednesday. He could not say why the feds were looking at Jahani and Peper's records.
Jahani was not at his home Wednesday afternoon, but law enforcement officials and agents from the Internal Revenue Service were, carrying out additional warrants.
At Montrose Urgent Care, a uniformed Montrose Police officer and local task force agent Jim Fuller stood guard while investigators inside continued to seize paperwork.
Fuller said the Urgent Care was closed and that patients are being referred to other healthcare facilities.
He referred all questions about the seizures to the U.S. Attorney's Office. That office said in a news release that patients of Jahani or Peper who need a copy of their medical records should have a medical practitioner call (720) 895-4269.
Records will be provided only to a medical practitioner and the practitioner will have to provide a HIPPA release when making the request.
While little information has surfaced about the nature of the DEA's investigation, U.S. District Court records show a civil suit brought by Jahani's former office manager in Delta, as well as a past federal prosecution in Texas — since settled — for alleged Medicare fraud.
His former office manager, Tonya Creel of Montrose, sued this year after having been fired last December. She claimed Jahani retaliated against her because she intended to blow the whistle on the way Jahani allegedly "upcoded" Medicare, billing it for a higher level of care than was actually provided.
The suit claims relief under a section of the U.S. Code's False Claims Act.
Jahani denied Creel's claims in subsequent filings.
"The potential False Claims Act violation as to which Creel was acting in furtherance involves the defendants overcharging Medicare for physician services Jahani, or other Urgent Care physicians, provided and the billing of Medicare for patient visits at the hospital and at nursing homes which Jahani did not actually make," Creel's complaint stated.
"The information and belief is Creel's knowledge of the defendants' extensive efforts to keep their wrongful Medicare billing practices secret, as well as the fact that at the time of Creel's termination reasonable efforts had not been made by the defendants to stop their wrongful practices."
The suit also alleges defamation.
Jahani denied Creel's allegations and countersued, claiming Creel did not correctly deposit cash receipts. His counter complaint alleged theft and said Creel failed to state a claim for which the court can grant relief. Creel's claims, the document says, are barred because of her "intentional acts."
"Defendants reasonably investigated all information that was presented by Creel during her employment," the answer stated.
Jahani, along with IHS Hospital of Dallas, was sued in 2003 under the False Claims Act, other U.S. District Court records show.
He settled his case with the U.S. government in 2004.
The settlement included a Corporate Integrity Agreement that required an independent review organization to audit samples of his paid Medicare claims.
Creel's suit alleged records intended for the auditor were altered.
In a Wednesday U.S. District Court filing, Creel and Jahani agreed to a protective order pertaining to confidential information.